Just outside the visitor center of Jennings Randolph Lake, in Mineral County, in the US state of West Virginia, is a large piece of rock on display. On one side of the rock there appears a regular waffle-like geometric pattern of raised, darker stone that runs in almost perfectly straight lines across the rock’s surface. The lines cross themselves at various angles forming deep pockets of lighter colored material.

The strange patterning on the so-called Waffle Rock is a result of natural erosion, although over the years many alternative theories regarding its origins have evolved, and these involve pretty much the usual —aliens, giant reptiles and ancient Indian societies.